Japanese Survival Cooking with Shie Kasai

“When I moved to Montreal in 1998, I was surprised to see how many sushi takeouts there were around the Plateau area, most of them run by non-Japanese; it was a bit of culture-shock for me within the same city. Then in 2008 I documented twenty-seven sushi shops all within a thirty-minute walking distance from my apartment. This was sort of the core inspiration of this Montreal-specific project,” so tells us Shie Kasai as she takes a break to talk more about her Survival Cooking Project.

For a Good Catch: Edible Monuments

The second of a three-part series looking at superstitions surrounding fishing in Yaizu, one of Japan’s most notorious fishing ports.

Oshibori Art

For his latest column, Paul Baron finds an app that will show you exactly what to do with those wet hand towels (oshibori) you receive at Japanese restaurants.

Japanese Package Design: Ippodo Tea

For this month’s edition of her “Japanese Package Design” column, Bianca Beuttel highlights the amazing graphic work found on packaging for Ippodo’s tea.

MUJI's 100 kcal Series

In the second edition of Bianca Beuttel’s “Japanese Packaging Design” series, she covers the calorie-centric snack offerings from MUJI.

AZITO

Online gallery of
Japanese Contemporary Art
www.azito-art.com

Kami no Shizuku

CNNGo posts a feature on the hugely successful — and influential — wine-centric manga Kami no Shizuku.

Bento in Berlin: Okawari by Tomoko Yamane

Tomoko Yamane thoughtfully recalls growing up cooking with her grandmother in Nagoya. Since then, Tomoko has lived with her acquired techniques of cuisine and relocated to Berlin where she has set up her own catering company.

SWEETS ROOM

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, CLASKA in Meguro will host SWEETS ROOM, a candy market featuring homemade sweets.

Xylish Chewing Gum’s Transformer Packaging

Kyoto-based Bianca Beuttel returns to the series she first started on PingMag (“The Tokyo-based magazine about design and making things”) about Japanese packaging design with this, her first contribution to SNOW.

Kitchen Revolution: Koenji's Vege Shokudo

“I started cooking when I started VEGE Shokudo” – said Yoyo calmly. Since she is involved with the Shiroto no ran, or ‘Amateur Riot’ movement, underneath the surface of her nonchalant confession lie many relevant questions: Why should we conform to eating food that is overpriced? Should nourishing and healthy food be a luxury? Where do our vegetables come from?

The Unlikely Restaurateur

Just three years into his first job, as an editor at one of Tokushima City’s vibrant local entertainment magazines, Takao Yamasaki wound up in the hospital from exhaustion and lack of proper nutrition. Instead of popping a multivitamin, downing another energy drink, and getting back to the desk, he decided to abandon his fledgling media career and go into the restaurant business, providing nutritionally balanced meals for his overworked and underfed friends and colleagues. The YRG Café, named for a nutritional concept taught to children about eating something yellow (carbohydrates), something red (protein), and something green (vegetables) with each meal to ensure a balanced diet, has been running for six years now with this unlikely restaurateur at its helm.